NIELIT To Host National Cybersecurity Conference In Delhi From November 16

India will host a two-day national conference on cybersecurity, digital forensics and intelligence beginning Monday, bringing together government agencies, law enforcement officials, defence institutions, researchers and technology companies to address emerging cyber threats and strengthen the country’s investigative capabilities.

Organised by the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the third National Conference on Cyber Security, Digital Forensics & Intelligence (NCCDFI 2026) will be held on November 16 and 17 at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.

The conference comes at a time when financial fraud, artificial intelligence-enabled cyberattacks and increasingly sophisticated digital criminal networks are placing greater demands on India’s cybersecurity infrastructure.

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Law Enforcement And Technology Experts To Address Emerging Cyber Threats

The conference will bring together several institutions responsible for protecting India’s digital infrastructure and investigating cybercrime.

Participating knowledge partners include the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Delhi Police, Maharashtra Cyber and the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau.

The Military College of Telecommunication Engineering in Mhow, CyberPeace and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship are also associated with the event.

The discussions will focus on improving coordination between investigative agencies, developing specialist capabilities and examining emerging technologies that could strengthen cybersecurity operations.

Such cooperation is particularly important in financial cybercrime investigations, where offenders, victims, bank accounts and digital infrastructure may be located in different states or countries.

Investigators often require assistance from banks, telecommunications companies, technology platforms and forensic specialists to identify suspects and establish how stolen money has been transferred.

The conference will also examine international cooperation and law enforcement preparedness, reflecting the increasingly cross-border nature of cybercrime.

Digital Forensics And AI Security Take Centre Stage

The conference programme covers ten areas, including digital evidence, AI security, protection of critical infrastructure, threat intelligence, cryptocurrency investigations, cloud security and the examination of drones and connected devices.

Digital forensics involves identifying, preserving and analysing electronic information that may assist an investigation. This can include examining mobile phones, computers, transaction records, communication histories and data stored through online services.

For cybercrime investigators, collecting information is only one part of the process. They must also establish its authenticity, document how it was obtained and preserve its integrity so that it can be examined during legal proceedings.

The growing use of artificial intelligence introduces additional challenges.

AI systems can help investigators identify suspicious patterns, examine large volumes of information and detect potentially fraudulent activity. However, automated findings may contain errors or produce conclusions that require independent human verification.

The conference will explore these issues alongside automated investigations, multimedia forensics, incident response and emerging technologies such as quantum computing.

An industry exhibition will also showcase investigative tools and security technologies, providing opportunities for law enforcement agencies and researchers to examine their potential applications.

Cyber Kushti Hackathon Draws More Than 3,000 Participants

A major feature of the conference will be Cyber Kushti 2026, a national cybersecurity and artificial intelligence competition designed to assess participants’ technical reasoning and ability to evaluate automated security findings.

The competition received registrations from 1,031 teams comprising 3,093 participants.

Of these, 923 teams were shortlisted for the first stage, while 50 qualified for the second stage and ten reached the final round.

Unlike traditional cybersecurity competitions that primarily reward participants for discovering vulnerabilities, Cyber Kushti places greater emphasis on determining whether reported security weaknesses are genuine and how urgently they need to be addressed.

Participants are required to examine assessment material containing machine-generated findings, including deliberately inaccurate or incomplete information.

They must identify genuine vulnerabilities, reject incorrect findings and explain their decisions.

The competition was launched on August 15 by Professor M.M. Tripathi, Director General of NIELIT, in collaboration with the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC Foundation), under the National Security Database initiative.

Tripathi had emphasised that as automated tools become increasingly capable of generating security assessments, professionals must develop the judgment required to determine which findings are accurate and which problems deserve priority.

The final stage will take place during the New Delhi conference, with participants working within controlled environments rather than targeting live public systems.

NIELIT Seeks Long-Term Cooperation With Cybersecurity Industry

The November conference marks the expansion of an initiative that began in northeastern India in 2024.

Its inaugural edition was organised in Kohima, Nagaland, in collaboration with Nagaland Police and the state government’s information technology department.

The second edition was held at Gauhati University in November 2025, bringing together law enforcement personnel, academic institutions and technology providers to examine cybersecurity and investigative challenges.

The latest edition will also feature proposed memoranda of understanding between NIELIT and industry partners to support collaborative research, professional development and institutional cooperation.

Participating companies include forensic technology providers Magnet Forensics, MSAB, Oxygen Forensics and Stellar.

The proposed partnerships could help educational institutions align cybersecurity training more closely with practical investigative requirements. However, the individual agreements, funding commitments and implementation timelines have not yet been disclosed.

For India, building specialist investigative skills remains an important component of its broader cybersecurity strategy. The effectiveness of these initiatives will depend on whether collaboration between government agencies, academic institutions and technology companies produces capabilities that can be applied in actual investigations.

What This Means For You:

Students and cybersecurity professionals should develop practical skills in digital forensics, incident response, AI security and the verification of automated security findings. Organisations handling sensitive information should strengthen their incident-response procedures and ensure that electronic evidence can be preserved when a cyberattack occurs.